Lindsay is about to have a bad result in the last race in Brisbane Saturday after he laid Ghetto Blaster at $9 to lose $20,000 to connections. He launched his new website at Eagle Farm on Saturday - refer main text.

The weather was fine and hot at Eagle Farm last Saturday and there was plenty of close racing out on the track with four of the eight races being decided by small winning margins. In Race 1 Minoa beat Chickchat by a head, in Race 2 Rock Idol defeated Encosta Tszyu by a neck, Crystal Prince got off the canvas to beat Tornadic Sky by half a head in Race 4 and Love And Money scrambled home by a neck over Mimidae, with Coincidental a short half head away third, in one of the features - the $75,000 Listed Carlton Draught Classic Plate for fillies and mares.

Only two favourites – Enrique ($3.60) and Myagi ($3.80) saluted on the eight-race program, which on face value appeared to give bookies the edge in the battle.

Lindsay reported from the meeting:-

Race 1 – Minoa (1^st - $6.50), Chickchat  (2^nd - $11), and 

                      Derry City (3^rd - $4.80).

Minoa got out to $6.50/$7, but the best backed runner in this race was Derry City. I laid him to lose $20,000 at $5 and he started $4.80 with me and was in to $4.60 with some other bookmakers when they jumped.

There was a little bit of money for Milliondollarheart and there wasn’t any money of note for any other really and when Derry City got beaten we had a small winning result.

Race 2 - Rock Idol (1^st - $4 ), Encosta Tszyu (2^nd - $2.25), and 

                     Boscobabe (3^rd - $26).

I laid Rock Idol early in betting and even though she eased late in betting, I still lost on the race.

Encosta Tszyu was the best backed runner. He was $2.40/$2.50 into about $2.25. He was a bit unlucky as he missed the start, but you could only lay the two runners for any money and they ran the quinella.

Race 3 - Enrique (1^st - $3.60), Party Express (2^nd - $4.20), and 

                     Mr Sequential  (3^rd - $8).

Enrique was the best backed runner. We bet $3.80 and he firmed to $3.60 and made it a losing race, as there were no big moves for any runner.

There was some money for Party Express around the $4.40 mark and Dawn’s Pride was specked at $6 and $5.50, but he was the first horse backed and then he was back into $5.50 late in betting.

Race 4 - Crystal Prince (1^st - $10), Tornadic Sky (2^nd - $5.50), and 

                      Hamah (3^rd - $13).

The best backed runner here with me was Clevergaze. It was well tried very late in betting and I appreciate a lot of bookies didn’t lay him, but he got out to $4 not long before they jumped and at the time he was only about $3 on the tote. It is the old story - if you were a punter who was a member of the VIP Club (refer later text), you would have got the best odds, instead of sitting at home and being robbed by the TAB on favourites!

Tornadic Sky was solid around the $6 mark and ran a nice race. He’s racing in good form.

But the bigger money was for Clevergaze and Tornadic Sky and the only other runner that had an interest shown in it was Tellasecret at around the $6.50 mark, so Crystal Prince’s victory made it a winning race for bookies.

Race 5 - Myagi (1^st - $3.90), Fine Cheval (2^nd - $12), and 

                     Portal (3^rd - $14).

This race was the big square up for any bookies that were winning at this point, as Myagi was $4.60 into $3.80. There were a string of big bets on him to lose $20,000 and $10,000. It was a very nasty result for all bookies. I don’t think we’ve ever won on these Country Cup’s. The class horse just drops back in class and races the country horses and always seems to be a little bit better than them, but Myagi was always going to get an easy run and he won and won easily.

There was no money for any other runners, so we laid Myagi exclusively and it was very nasty.

Race 6 - Love And Money (1^st - $10), Mimidae (2^nd - $7.50), and 

                     Coincidental (3^rd - $7.50).

The best backed runner here was Street Smart. She was $4.60 into about $4.20 and there were several bets to lose $5,000 and $10,000 on her.

Shepishir was specked around $4.40.

There was no money for Strawberry Malt.

I did lay a very large bet on Conquistar Amor at 400-1 and I’d have lost the house if she’d have won, but I felt safe at the time I laid the bet.

Race 7 - Malta (1^st - $7), Rash Promise (2^nd - $6) and

                      Picablu (3^rd - $10).

Rash Promise was the best backed runner here. Rank and file punters really warmed to her each way. She was $7.50 into $6.

I laid Mr. Hornblower to lose $16,000 in one bet and the others were only specked.

There were no significant moves for any other runner, apart from Rash Promise and I didn’t lay Malta, but it was a low key betting affair overall. I’d actually been waiting for Malta to win, as he has been threatening to win a race, but this race was $7 the field and betting $7 the field was no good in the Melbourne Cup and it wasn’t any good here either.

Race 8 - Ghetto Blaster (1^st - $7), Cruskit (2^nd - $5), and 

                      Cocktail Supreme (3^rd - $2.50).

I bet $9 to the connections of Ghetto Blaster and laid him to lose $20,000.

Cocktail Supreme was well backed and was $3 into $2.50. There were a string of good sized cash bets on him on the way in.

Cruskit was hard to lay in this race.

There was a move for Mel. It came through on the phones. I was laying him on the phones and another Sydney phone runner was backing it at the same time - which defies belief that he might do his own form!

The Spear was specked late in betting at $8. He had a bad alley and is probably one to follow.

Cocktail Supreme seemed to have every chance, but as I alluded to for readers of this column the last time he started - when he ran off the track - if he gets overraced, he might get overtaxed, because I do know from the early days that he has got above average ability and he was looked after early and if he’s not looked after now, it will come against him.

On the day overall, there wasn’t much in it for me personally. I was ahead coming to the last, but Ghetto Blaster’s win put me out of business.

Lindsay has told readers a couple of times recently he has a big announcement to make and he came good with his promise on Saturday at Eagle Farm by unveiling his new website. Yes Lindsay has finally acknowledged that we are in the 21^st century and he has decided to move with the times and as a result he has launched his own Internet site. How hip and funky is that? He is offering some great benefits to inaugural members of his new club which are outlined on his website.

“I’ve launched a new club for punters – and in particular smaller punters – where they can get looked after and get a bit better deal. All they have to do is join the VIP club which is on the web now at www.thevipclub.com.au and they can go in and become a member of the club and reap the benefits and have some interesting reading”, Lindsay said.

I asked him how often his website will have his editorial content put on it and he said, “there will be content going on it each week. My report that currently goes on Justracing will still go on there, but it will also go onto my site. Then each Wednesday I’ll do a rant on some racing topic and will express my view and if I’ve got something to say, I say what I think, which is more than you can say about a lot of articles you read in the local papers. Apart from that, there will be form experts putting their ideas up on the website Friday’s after they have dissected  a few races for readers - and these races won’t be solely restricted to Brisbane – they could be on Sydney or Melbourne as well. There will also be special privileges and bonuses for members along the way”.

Lindsay also stated “members are welcome to put money into an account and bet with me on race days. The idea is that they can open a phone account with me by depositing funds – all those facilities are there in the membership area of my website – or they can list their name to just become a member and that’s a free service. There are big bonuses for the first members that join and that will continue on, when members open an account. I feel the smaller punter gets rejected along the way and this will ensure he or she gets service. This way they can talk directly to me, unlike some of the corporate bookmakers where you speak to someone in the office who just answers phones”.

Lindsay went on to say that “there is now no betting limit on telephone betting and you don’t have to back a horse to win a certain amount, or any of those antiquated rules that were in place when they first launched telephone betting with bookmakers, so you can have $5 each way on a horse at 4-1 if you so desire”. So check out Lindsay’s new website at www.thevipclub.com.au